streak

American  

[streek] / strik /

noun

• streaks
  plural

1. a long, narrow mark, smear, band of color, or the like.

   streaks of mud.

2. a portion or layer of something, distinguished by color or nature from the rest; a vein or stratum.

   streaks of fat in meat.

3. a vein, strain, or admixture of anything.

   a streak of humor.

   Synonyms:

   trace, element, touch, cast

4. Informal.

   1. a spell or run.

      a streak of good luck.

   2. an uninterrupted series.

      The team had a losing streak of ten games.

5. a flash leaving a visible line or aftereffect, as of lightning; bolt.

6. Mineralogy. the line of powder obtained by scratching a mineral or rubbing it upon a hard, rough white surface, often differing in color from the mineral in the mass, and serving as an important distinguishing character.

7. Plant Pathology.

   1. an elongated, narrow, superficial lesion on stems or leaf veins, becoming brown and necrotic.

   2. any disease characterized by such lesions.

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verb (used with object)

• streaks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• streaked,
  past participle,  past
• streaking
  present participle

1. to mark with a streak or streaks; form streaks on.

   sunlight streaking the water with gold; frost streaking the windows.

2. to lighten or color (strands of hair) for contrastive effect.

3. to dispose, arrange, smear, spread, etc., in the form of a streak or streaks.

   to streak cold germs on a slide for microscopic study.

verb (used without object)

• streaks,
  present (3rd person singular)
• streaked,
  past participle,  past
• streaking
  present participle

1. to become streaked.

2. to run, go, or work rapidly.

3. to flash, as lightning.

4. to make a sudden dash in public while naked, especially as a prank.

idioms

1. blue streak. blue streak.

streak ¹ British  

/ striːk /

noun

1. a long thin mark, stripe, or trace of some contrasting colour

2. 1. (of lightning) a sudden flash

   2. ( as modifier )

      streak lightning

3. an element or trace, as of some quality or characteristic

4. a strip, vein, or layer

   fatty streaks

5. a short stretch or run, esp of good or bad luck

6. mineralogy the powdery mark made by a mineral when rubbed on a hard or rough surface: its colour is an important distinguishing characteristic

7. bacteriol the inoculation of a solid culture medium by drawing a wire contaminated with the microorganisms across it

8. informal an act or the practice of running naked through a public place

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verb

1. (tr) to mark or daub with a streak or streaks

2. (intr) to form streaks or become streaked

3. (intr) to move rapidly in a straight line

4. informal (intr) to run naked through a crowd of people in a public place in order to shock or amuse them

streak ² British  

/ striːk /

noun

1. a variant spelling of strake

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streak Scientific  

/ strēk /

1. The characteristic color of a mineral after it has been ground into a powder. Because the streak of a mineral is not always the same as its natural color, it is a useful tool in mineral identification.

2. A bacterial culture inoculated by drawing a bacteria-laden needle across the surface of a solid culture medium.

3. Also called streak plate

4. Any of various viral diseases of plants characterized by the appearance of discolored stripes on the leaves or stems.

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streak More Idioms  

1. see like greased lightning (a blue streak); talk someone's arm off (a blue streak); winning streak.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• streakedness
  noun
• streaker
  noun
• interstreak
  verb (used with object)
• streaked
  adjective
• streaklike
  adjective
• unstreaked
  adjective
• streakedly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• streaks
  plural

Participles

• streaking
  present
• streaked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• streak
  simple
• streaks
  simple
• have streaked
  perfect
• has streaked
  perfect
• am streaking
  progressive
• are streaking
  progressive
• is streaking
  progressive
• have been streaking
  perfect progressive
• has been streaking
  perfect progressive

Past

• streaked
  simple
• had streaked
  perfect
• was streaking
  progressive
• were streaking
  progressive
• had been streaking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will streak
  simple
• will have streaked
  perfect
• will be streaking
  progressive
• will have been streaking
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of streak

First recorded before 1000; (for the noun) Middle English streke, akin to strike, Old English strica “stroke, line, mark”; cognate with German Strich, Gothic striks “stroke”; akin to Latin strigil strigil; (for the verb) late Middle English streken “to cross out,” derivative of the noun; cf. strike, stroke ¹

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Explanation

A streak is a mark or characteristic. What makes you keep trying to wipe the streak of permanent marker off the white couch — your clean streak or your stubborn streak? Like a mark or stain, a streak in a person is a characteristic or strain that runs through them — like a mean streak. The noun streak can also refer to an unbroken chain of events — you’ll want a lucky streak to keep going and a losing streak to come to a quick end. As a verb, to streak means to dash, sometimes without clothes. If you talk a blue streak, you’ve got a lot to say, very quickly.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

streak streaks streaked streaking

If Mamdani has so far shown a pragmatic streak in how he governs that can feel at odds with the loftier promises of his campaign, some friction with his most hard-line voters might be inevitable.

From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026

During that part of the campaign, Canada ended England's near four-year winning streak with a nail-biting 26-26 draw at Sandy Park in Exeter.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

Chip stocks are on track to fall for a seventh consecutive day, their longest losing streak since May 2025.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

Chip stocks haven’t suffered a losing streak like this in almost a year and a half.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

The sun was setting, and it was as if someone had taken a brush with pink paint and made a streak across the sky, which was pale blue but getting darker by the minute.

From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks

And amid the doomsaying, streaks of contrarian optimism are starting to emerge.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026

As tiny particles from the comet enter the Earth's atmosphere at high speed, they heat up and produce streaks of light across the night sky that we see as meteors.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

By the end, I was dragging pieces of focaccia through the last orange streaks left in the pan.

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026

At age 82, Steinem looked as she had always looked, only older: tinted aviator glasses, leather jacket, long hair parted down the middle with two lightened streaks at the front.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Her pumpkin-orange curls piled high on her head reminded me of the bride of Frankenstein, even without the lightning bolt streaks on each side.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

Every visitor must exit through the Blood Room, a gruesomely immersive space whose walls are streaked, smeared, splattered and practically dripping with the red stuff.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Will Jordan, his nation's all-time leading try-scorer, streaked off his wing on a superb line to dunk down over the line at the end of 32 draining phases.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

A meteor streaked across the New York City area in broad daylight on July 16, 2024, producing a sonic boom as it passed just south of the Statue of Liberty.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

A group of more than 100 people near the stage refused to leave, chanting "USA! USA! USA!" while a pair of B2 bombers that were part of an hours-long military flyover show streaked overhead.

From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026

Pet stepped out from a corner, still massive, still gold and streaked fur and hardblood curled horns.

From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi

And he delivered sensationally, streaking away from the field in the backstroke and breaststroke legs before closing it out in the freestyle.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

As the first half wrapped, a streaking Balogun added a second goal to make it 3-0.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

Every night around the world, thousands of automated sky cameras watch for flashes of light streaking across the atmosphere.

From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026

But Nix rolled right, and threw across his body to an uncovered Sutton streaking down the field for a touchdown.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2025

Green to the core, Seabiscuit was all over the track, streaking out with the early leaders as they tried to keep up with Myrtlewood.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

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